It's Going to be a Long Drive

"Ready?" I asked as I got into the car.

"Yup, I'm ready" Jeff replied as he belted himself in.

"Then lets go" I said as I started the car.

I put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway to start our weekend trip.

"Jen, did you get a map?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah I printed one out. It should take us....."

"Um, Mom?!" Hayden said from the backseat.

"It should take us about three hours to get there and I thought......" I tried again.

"Um, Mom?! Mom?!" Hayden said with a little more volume and a little more angst.

"Hayden. I am trying to talk to Daddy" I scolded. "Now, wait your turn."

Turning back to Jeff, I said, "I thought that we would stop about 2 hours in the the trip for....."

"Excuse me. Mom" Hayden politely said from the back.

"I was thinking that about an hour before we get there we would stop for lunch. Sound good....."

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Mom?!" Hayden said, his tone laced the politeness with urgency.

"Hayden," Jeff said in his best stern Daddy voice, "Mommy and I are trying to talk about the trip that we are taking. We are trying to decided how to get there. Do you want us to get lost and then we will never get to the cabin?"

"No" Hayden says quietly.

"Good, than HUSH!" Jeff answers.

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Jeff said as he turned his attention back to me. "What did you think that we would....."

"Um Mom....." Hayden tries once again to get my attention.

"Hayden!" Jeff asks with annoyance pouring out through his tone. "What in the world is so important that the sky is going to fall if you don't tell your Mother right this minute."

With that, Jeff turns around in his seat to give Hayden his undivided attention.

He looks Hayden square in the face and whats for an answer.

Silence.

"Come on now Hayden, tell us. Tell us what was so important that if you didn't tell us right this minute the sky would fall in big pieces on our heads. What in the world do you have to say. Tell now us." Jeff replies losing patients with every passing word.

Hayden is thoughtful for a minute and then says with a giggle, "Dad, that is just silly. The sky is not going to fall on our heads."

"Really, that is it?! That is really what you needed to tell us?" Jeff said with disgust.

"Yeah" Hayden says with a smile and then adds, "When are we going to be there?"

Jeff sighs in defeat and I can't help but giggle, quietly of course.